


Growing Up is Hard Enough (without saving the world)

by yukisukinomoto



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Romance, Senior year
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2019-08-26 19:23:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16687492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yukisukinomoto/pseuds/yukisukinomoto
Summary: Ladybug and Chat Noir vs. senior year?!Marinette and Adrien find themselves facing their final year in high school, preparing for their futures and trying to balance their increasingly demanding normal teenage life with their duties of being Paris's very own superheroes.





	1. Chapter 1

The chill in the air seemed to officially signify that summer was over. It wasn’t exactly news. School started for most high school students the upcoming Monday, after all. Still, Ladybug couldn’t help but grin. Normally, she supposed, a grand majority of students would be dreading getting back to school. But she was thrilled. She had been busy all summer, and she missed her friends. Alya had gone with her mother to visit family in America (and had subsequently inspired Marinette to beg her father to make French Quarter Beignets to which he complied, all whilst chuckling that her friends trip to America could have set her desires on the pastry), so they hadn’t seen each other in a month. Nino had been busy touring doing DJ gigs across Europe, tagging along with a couple of friends he had made on the scene in order to boost his portfolio. He had been gone even longer than Alya. And Adrien…

She let out a heavy sigh that tumbled off her lips.

She hadn’t been able to see him since the last day of school. He had messaged her, just like Nino and Alya had been sure to do, but he had been so busy doing photo shoots all summer long that she hadn’t been able to actually see him. It hurt. They had finally managed to become real, honest to goodness friends despite all of her bumbling. She had gotten better. And now she hadn’t seen him in over two months. Another sigh.

“Hey Bugaboo, what’s on your mind?”

She turned to smile at Chat. “Nothing at all.” She said easily. “Ready for patrol?”

“Always.” He grinned. And together they took off into the night, protecting the streets of their beloved city.

 

\----

 

A/N: this is an extremely short prologue so I'm going to be posting up the first chapter momentarily to supplement. I don't have a beta reader, sadly, but I'll do my best!


	2. Chapter 2

Marinette, for once in her life, woke up with time to spare. She was so excited to get back to school that she beat her alarm. And when her mother poked her head in through the trap door in order to call for her to get up, she was surprised to find her daughter bouncing on her chaise, completely dressed and ready to go. But Sabine smiled. She knew how much Marinette had missed her friends over the summer. So instead of pointing out the sudden change, she called out to her daughter. “Marinette, come down for breakfast. Papa made beignets!” Marinette’s eyes grew wide and she smiled, practically skipping down to the table. She dropped her school bag to the ground beside her and carefully made sure her purse was hanging properly at her side as she sat down. “This looks delicious!”

“Papa made them first thing this morning. Even before he started getting ready for the bakery.”

“Papa is too sweet.”

“That _is_ one of the reasons I married him.” Sabine chuckled and sat down across from her daughter with a mug of coffee. She took a sip and watched her daughter, now seventeen, as Marinette grabbed a few beignets and started going to town. Marinette had truly blossomed over the summer. She had a growth spurt, yes, a bit taller, a bit curvier, but Sabine was more impressed by the confidence Marinette had slowly been gaining. She had helped work the register at the bakery all summer long in order to earn more money to buy fabrics to work on her designs. And doing so, she got better and better at talking to strangers. Sabine chuckled into her cup. She always knew her daughter was amazing.

Marinette sighed happily, finishing off the last of the treats and licking her fingers to get the last bit of the powdered sugar off of them.

“You’re not running late for once, why don’t you take your time and hang out?” Sabine asked, taking another long sip of her drink.

She grinned at her mom. “I love you, mom. But if I don’t see Alya in person soon I might actually explode. And I’d hate to leave you to clean all that up on your own.” Sabine nodded knowingly.

“Yes, yes, I understand. Now that your best friend is home you have no time for your dear old mama.” She teased.

“Mom,” Marinette rolled her eyes but the grin remained. “Anyway. I’m going to head out now! I think Alya said she was going to be there pretty early to so she could get situated in the school newspaper room.” She popped up from her chair and graced her mother with a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you at lunch, Mama!” She called out and hurried to leave.

“Marinette!” Sabine called after her. And seconds later, Marinette reappeared, blushing and laughing nervously to retrieve her forgotten school bag.

“All right, now I’m going to school. I love you!” Marinette muttered, letting out another nervous laugh before she disappeared again.

“Love you too, dear!” Sabine called out over her shoulder.

—

“I never thought I’d see the day.” Alya grinned at her from the top of the steps. Nino was beside her, hanging an arm around her shoulders in a lax position.

“Alya, Nino!” She greeted happily, waving.

“Did the world end and I’m just having a death dream? Or are you actually here before the first bell?” Alya joked and elbowed Nino gently in the ribs as he grinned along at her little act.

“Har-har. I’m perfectly capable of being on time for things. Sometimes. Occasionally.” Marinette blinked… and then grinned. “I mean when I can.” The three all guffawed for a moment before Alya broke away from her boyfriend in order to pull Marinette into a tight hug.

“I missed you, girl.” Alya crooned.

“I missed you too, Alya.” Marinette whispered. Oh dear, she felt tears pricking at her eyes. Happy tears, but still she did not want to cry on her first day back to school. She rubbed her face against Alya’s shoulders to try and get the tears back into her accursed eyes and Alya giggled before pushing her back a little bit.

“Let me look at you!” Alya made a big show of dragging her eyes up and down Marinette’s body, then she grinned wickedly. “Wow. I see the puberty fairy came and hit you with the sexy stick.” Marinette couldn’t help the blush that overtook her face.

“Alya!” She cried out, trying to cover her cheeks in order to hide the stain of incriminating red.

“What?” Alya blinked, all innocent like. “I’m just saying…”

“What were you just saying?” A voice interrupted, and Marinette turned on the ball of her foot quickly. Adrien. Her mind hazed for a moment before snapping back into focus.

_You are seventeen now, you will not drool, you will not stammer, you will be the intelligent girl you know that you can be._

“H-hi Adrien,” She greeted, starting to wave before remembering how red her face was and slapping her hands back onto her cheeks. Ouch.

“Hi Marinette,” He smiled brightly and waved. “Hey Nino, hey Alya.”

“We were just talking about how Marinette had a, eh, growth spurt,” Alya grinned and though Marinette didn’t look back to her best friend, she could practically hear her eyebrows wiggling suggestively. That’s it. She was going to have to practice sewing by sewing her friend’s mouth shut. “But it looks like she wasn’t the only one. Damn, Agreste.”

Marinette’s eyes scanned Adrien quickly. Alya was right. He had gotten taller. More muscled. She always knew he was fit. He was a model, he had to be. But now she could actually see a faint outline of muscle under the fabric of his shirt. Her face would never be a normal color again. Eek! As her eyes met his she quickly looked away. Okay, so much for all that progress she had thought she made. But when she turned back to Alya, Adrien had joined them and stood at her side, reaching out to give Nino a fist bump as they greeted each other. She made a point of glaring at Alya. Who continued to pretend to look completely innocent. Traitor.

“So, what class is everyone in?” Adrien asked finally, looking at all of them. Marinette willed her cheeks to behave, and felt the heat slowly, so slowly leave. So she kept her hands on her cheeks as she answered him.

“2B.”

“Same, girl! Awesome.”

“Me too.” Nino grinned and tugged Alya close.

“Huh. Me too. I actually feel pretty lucky. We keep getting the same class.” Adrien smiled happily at all of his friends.

“Yup. Super lucky.” Marinette agreed a little too quickly, and then laughed a nervous little laugh before letting it die off. “Anyway, we should. Uh. Go inside. Right? Yeah. I’m just gonna go in now.” And before anyone else could stop her, she marched inside, finally letting her cheeks feel the fresh air and dropping her hands to her sides. She felt a little buzzing in her purse and smiled. Tikki was comforting her silently. _I can do this._

—

“I can’t do this.” Alya merely rolled her eyes at Marinette’s plight, and attempted to placate her by patting her gently on the head. “No, really, I can’t. Please, Alya, don’t abandon me!”

“Girl. I am not abandoning you. I’m going to be right behind you. It’s our last year of school together, can you blame me for wanting to sit with Nino?”

“No… no of course not but…”

“Hey guys!” Adrien called as he entered the room. He and Nino had hung behind at the lockers for a while when the girls went ahead into the classroom. “So… Marinette, Nino said we’re going to be seatmates this year.”

Marinette didn’t know whether to melt at his smile or scream and jump out of the window to save herself from embarrassment. Although that would be embarrassing on its own. She let out a little groan.

Adrien gave her a weird look. “Uh… Marinette, are you feeling ok?” He asked. Apparently her groan was not as quiet as she had thought.

“Uh. Yeah. Just tired. Yup. Tired. That’s all. Aha-ha-ha-ha…” She trailed off, and turned in hopes of pleading with Alya again but she found that Alya and Nino had already sat down together at the desk. _Traitor_. Alya stuck out her tongue at Marinette not so subtly but it was replaced quickly by a grin. And of course Marinette couldn’t be mad. Not for long. So she resigned herself to trying to reign in her crazy for the whole year and took her seat.

Adrien, probably completely unaware of the tornado ravaging her from the inside, took his seat beside her and rifled through his bag, pulling out his tablet. When he straightened he offered he a smile, and she could already feel her cheeks getting pink again. “So how was your summer?” He asked conversationally.

_You’re seventeen_ , she reminded herself harshly again, and she felt Tikki’s gentle buzzing at her hip. “N-Not much, not really. I worked at the bakery, I worked on some projects… just normal stuff. What about you?” Holy crap, only one stammer. See? She could do this. But her stomach wasn’t getting the memo because it was still doing flip flops.

“Pretty normal for me too. I mean, model normal. Other than that I just played video games. I’ll have to show you how much better I’ve gotten at Mecha Strike III.” His grin turned wicked, something she was not used to seeing on him, but it was actually really nice. He had gotten better around their group too, she had realized. Three years would do that. The model smile had finally been put away for good when he was around them. And she loved him all the more for it.

“You’re asking for a rematch?” Marinette asked, offering her own grin in return. “I guess I can try not to kick your butt too hard.”

Adrien mimed being shot in the heart and slumped back in his chair, to which all three of his friends broke out into giggles.

“So when do you want to get your beating?” Marinette chirped. And then she stilled because her face was too busy draining the rest of the blood from her body. That sounded vaguely sexual. Oh god. But Adrien didn’t seem to notice and merely laughed.

“I’m free Thursday. After Chinese and fencing, anyway. We could make a night of it, all of us.”

“Sounds fun!” Nino grinned.

“Great. It’s a date.” Alya smiled directly at Marinette, who wanted nothing more than to sink into a void. Obviously not everyone had missed the unintended innuendo.

“Yup!” Adrien was cut off from speaking further as their teacher hurried into the classroom and set about introducing themselves to the class. Marinette was pleased to see that, while their class was full of familiar faces, Chloe was not among them. The first time since third grade, she mused, and finally—

“I’m here!”

_Kwami damn it._


	3. Chapter 3

Chloe’s eyes scanned the room quickly, and fixated momentarily on Marinette, but to Marinette’s surprise, she said nothing and simply moved to take her seat. Huh. Maybe Chloe wasn’t feeling well. She stared around Adrien to look at Chloe but she seemed… fine. If not quiet. Her surprise had no time to set in though because the teacher, after admonishing the blond, went straight into going over what to expect from class. History, world history, was first on the docket. Monsieur Deschamps seemed a nice enough teacher, if a bit strict and ambitious. They would be facing several projects and papers just in the first term. The projects and presentations were to be completed in partnerships. Marinette sighed in relief. At least she knew she could count on Alya to partner up for those. She smiled and listened as their new teacher prattled on about classroom conduct and chanced a glance over to Adrien, who was staring oddly at his bag, almost glaring at it. But then he chanced a glance at her and caught her gaze. She felt herself blushing. Again.

_You’re my blood, do as you’re told. Stop it._ She commanded inwardly as she averted her own gaze back to the front as though she was intently listening to the teacher. She hadn’t heard what he’d said in the past few minutes if she were being honest but Adrien didn’t need to know that. Absentmindedly, she pet her purse and felt Tikki moving against her fingers and let herself relax. Again, she reminded herself that she could do this. And for that moment, she believed it.

Class let out and a couple of the other students got up and mingled, but she turned back to look at Alya with a look that the journalist easily ignored. “So not looking forward to wading through all that history, man,” Nino groaned, slumping back in his chair dramatically. Adrien let out a breathy chuckle as he turned to face his friend. “Why do I care about something that happened 300 years ago? I’m going to be a DJ, not a historian. Seems pointless.” Alya cooed and pet him on the arm.

“Hey, history can be interesting.” Adrien defended, earning a glare from his best friend from under the red rim of his cap. But he persisted. “Come on, all those wars, all the different cultures, don’t you think?” He pouted upon receiving another glare and turned his gaze to Marinette. “Come on. Mari, you agree with me, don’t you?”

She caught herself before the word vomit could erupt and managed to take a moment before answering in a cool, calm, composed manner. “Y-yeah, totally.” Close enough. She ignored Alya’s amused glance and forced herself to push forward. “Plus, you can learn a lot from other people’s mistakes. You know, that’s a big bonus.”

Nino huffed but leaned forward again. “Whatever. At least it’s over.”

“Until tomorrow.” Alya chimed in with glee, grinning at his upset stare. She couldn’t help but tease her boyfriend. She _had_ been without him for a while and she had to make up on all that time she missed out on.

“Aw, man, Alya, can’t you let me have a moment of ignorant bliss?”

“Not on your life.”

Marinette sighed and watched as Alya bumped her shoulder against Nino’s until the young DJ finally relinquished and grinned at her, kissing his beloved girlfriend’s cheek. They were too cute together. And while Marinette was happy for them, sometimes the stark contrast was a painful reminder that she had no such relationship with the golden boy seated next to her. Alya still occasionally pushed her to confess, insisting that she was the only one in the way of her own happiness. And, yes, perhaps that may be true. But at the same time, there was that possibility that her bringing it up could ruin the friendship she had finally, _finally_ managed to cultivate between them. She wasn’t sure that she was willing to give that up. They had become friends. Maybe even really good friends. Hell they may have managed the title for best friends had she not still had that damn stammer around him half the time.

But despite that she hadn’t technically done much to get over her crush on him either. It’s not that she preferred to wallow in a perilous, painful limbo of emotion, but rather she had no idea how to even start. And heaven forbid she ask Alya. She knew exactly what her excitable friend would say. Alya would say to get over one guy she needed to get under another. And NO, not even like that, just rather start going out with other guys. And then, she just knew that Alya would start trying to set her up on dates herself. And not that she didn’t trust Alya, but her best friend could get decidedly overenthusiastic with these things.

She shuddered mentally at the thought and turned around as their next teacher made her presence known by clearing her throat loudly.

By the time lunch rolled around, Nino was doing a great impression of a zombie walk as they headed out to the courtyard. Adrien plopped down beside Nino and fished a little box out of his bag as he settled on the grass. Marinette meanwhile pulled out her own lunch and a little bag of beignets that she had brought to share with her friends. “Oh, are those what I think they are, girl?” Alya crowed and swiped one before she had even fully opened the bag. “Mm, yes, come to me, my precious!”

Zombie-Nino lifted up from his prone position on the ground. “Wazzat?” He slurred eloquently and reached out grabby hands. Marinette laughed and handed over one of the fried pastries. He took a bite and full-on moaned in appreciation. “Omigod, Mari.”

“Can I have one?” Adrien asked, eyes shining in both amusement and clear hope.

“Of course.” She laughed and handed another one to him before grabbing her own. “Wouldn’t leave out my fa- friend. My friend.” She was not going to just call him her favorite guy. Dear god. Deciding it a safer bet to occupy her treacherous mouth, she took a large bite and focused on chewing instead of the pure bliss that filled Adrien’s face as he ate her treat. The treat. Ugh.

“Wow. This is really great, Mari.” He said after he finished and dabbed at his lips with a napkin. “My compliments to your dad.”

“I’ll let him know.” Marinette managed without stuttering again and mentally gave herself a fist bump.

“Do you think your dad will marry me?” Nino asked, having already laid back down. He rubbed his belly appreciatively.

“Hmm… I don’t know, maybe. But you’d have to fight my mom for him.”

“Hard pass. I love your mom but I have the weird feeling she could kick my ass.” Nino shook his head. Mari snickered.

“Yeah, and I quite like that ass. No getting it kicked.” Alya said before bending over and gently kissing Nino. Marinette glanced away and instead busied herself with unwrapping the sandwich her maman had prepared for her. Adrien, too, had decided to avert his eyes from the couple.

“Ahem. So. What electives have you decided on this year?” Adrien cleared his throat, turning his attention over to Marinette. She warmed and looked at him only to find him staring at her intently.

“Oh, I’m taking art. If they had a fashion program I’d do that but the art program is so lax that I’m pretty sure I’ll get to work on some designs. What about you, Adrien?”

“Art.” He quipped. “Nothing else really spoke to me. I’m more into science but I thought it could be fun.” And lord knew he needed more of that in his life. He hoped he’d be able to relax a bit with something like art as his elective, and his father hadn’t really disapproved (or been told, for that matter) so he had jumped on the opportunity. “When is yours?”

“Next.”

“Me too. We should walk over together.”

Marinette was fairly sure that her heart had stopped. But he was still looking at her expectantly so she forcibly kick started it. “O-o-oh! Sure, of course. That would, uh, that would be great! Er. Nice. It would be nice. We should do that. The walking thing.” God damn, it was like she was thrown four years into the past.

“Cool!” Adrien grinned and took a bite of his salad.

Marinette would have said something else except she couldn’t think of anything. Not to mention her attention was drawn by the snickers to her side and she turned to outright glare at Alya and Nino. They quickly pretended to be incredibly interested in a leaf on the ground next to Nino.

Lunch ended, both too soon and not soon enough in Marinette’s mind, and the four stood up and dusted themselves off to head off to their next classes. “I’ve got journalism this way,” Alya said and pointed.

“Cool. I’ve got music. I’ll walk you.” Nino grinned and wrapped an arm around Alya’s waist after hefting both of their bags over his shoulder. “See ya later, dudes,” he directed back to Adrien and Marinette. Marinette rocked back on her heels, holding her bag in front of her as she glanced over to Adrien.

“Shall we?” He asked, with a little mock bow. She blinked at him. It was… an insanely cute gesture but somehow it was comforting, and she found herself grinning at him instead of stammering and blushing.

“Sure.”

And with that, they traipsed out of the courtyard and headed to the art room on the second floor.

 


	4. Chapter 4

The art classroom was settled into one of the corners of the second floor and therefore was almost twice the size of most of the regular classrooms. A necessity, for art. Marinette approved. She and Adrien looked around as they entered to find they were the first there. “It’s big.” Adrien said as though he had just been in her head. Heaven perish the thought. He certainly did not want to preview her private thoughts. She shuddered internally.

“Yeah. Lots of room for activities,” Marinette chuckled, wandering over to the line of chairs against the far wall.

“Hey I got that reference!” Adrien grinned, and she quickly returned it as she caught on. There were no desks, the room a big empty space in the middle with a bunch of chairs and shelves of supplies pushed against the walls. There wasn’t even a desk for the teacher, which made sense if they had a more hands-on teaching style. Marinette peered at the chalkboard at one end of the room to see doodles of silly faces and flowers along with “Monsieur Cadieux”. That must be the name of their art teacher.

Adrien felt his fingers twitch at his side as he glanced over all of the little doodles. It took no more than a minute before he gave in and approached the board, swiping up one of the little nubs of chalk and adding his own little bit of graffiti to the board. He pulled back and appraised his work. Marinette, he was not, but it wasn’t terrible. He nearly jumped out of his skin upon her giggle sounding off from right behind him and turned around, eyes wide. Somehow she had snuck up on him and was only a few inches away. “Cute.” She said, stepping up to the board and leaning in to study it as though she were an art critic. “I didn’t know you were a fan of Chat Noir.” Well, at least it was good enough that she could recognize that fact.

“Well, yeah. He’s no _Ladybug_ , but-”

“Hey now, don’t diss the cat.” Marinette said with a small smile over her shoulder before she turned toward him. She knew he would never disrespect her partner, Adrien was too nice for that, but her automatic response was always to defend her kitty.

“I would never.”

“I know.” Marinette grinned and turned back to the board, picking up a little piece of chalk to add to his doodle. “But you’re right. What’s Chat Noir without his lady?” When she pulled away again, Adrien was delighted to note that she had added a quick doodle of Ladybug next to his Chat and felt his chest tighten. Was it weird that he wanted to take a picture of it with his phone so he could have it forever? Probably.

He did it anyway.

He didn’t even feel that awkward about it because a moment after he took a picture, Marinette gave in and took one with her phone too before smiling shyly at him.

He may have figured out what he wanted to say if the door didn’t slam open in that moment. Marinette did a little jump in her spot before seeming to curl in on herself in embarrassment and he wished for a moment he could have brought them back to the peaceful joyous moment they had just shared. But as the teacher and a couple of other students filed in, he had to admit the moment was gone and he followed Marinette to stand near the chairs.

“All right.” The teacher crowed over the idle chit-chat of the gathered students and the crowd settled down quickly. “Looks like everyone is here. Let’s get started.”

Adrien took a moment to look over at the other kids who had come in and clumped up into groups. He recognized Nathaniel immediately (it was pretty hard to miss that shock of red hair, after all), and Marc stood next to him, shyly scuffing his foot against the ground. There were a few he knew by face from around the halls but had never really talked with. Oddly enough Sabrina was in attendance, and without Chloe (which actually wasn’t all that surprising as she wasn’t huge into visual arts unless it was clothing that she could wear to show off). Alix was leaned against the opposite wall, arms crossed and popping a bubble against her lips. When she caught his eye she gave him a little two fingered wave and a smirk. He returned the wave.

“This is intro to art. So of course we’ll be covering the basics. However,” M. Cadieux paused, stopping by the end of the chalkboard to admire all of the doodles with a fond smile. “I’m not one to stifle creativity. So the basics will be kept to a minimum. And then we get to experiment together.”

“Nice!” Alix grinned.

“Yes. Nice indeed, Alix.” Their teacher chuckled and thrust his hands into the pockets of his pressed khakis. “So. Everyone grab a chair. We’ll start on the boring basics today and get as much bull out of the way as possible.”

Adrien was sure his mouth was hanging open slightly. He had never had a teacher talk so frankly to his students before. He liked it. He quickly grabbed a chair, and then decided to take another and set them both out side by side. “Here, Marinette,” he called to her. She blinked, blushed, and offered another shy little smile before taking the seat. Pleased that she seemed to still be somewhat calm around him, he took the other seat next to her and put his bag gently down at his side. She fiddled with hers until she brought her familiar sketchbook out to set on her lap and twiddled her pencil between her fingers. It didn’t take long for the other students to get situated, what with it being a fairly small class size.

“So. Basics.” The teacher smiled wide and went in on the lecture.

======

All in all, Adrien’s first day back at school was nice. Easy. Enjoyable. He felt a sense of peace going back into a routine that allowed him to be with his friends. He grinned over at Plagg from his position on the couch, watching the little kwami napping on his pillow on the giant bed. Life was good.

He hadn’t even been bothered with his rigorous Chinese lesson after school, nor with how his father had, once again, failed to show up to dinner. He didn’t mind that Plagg had basically crashed the moment they returned home and had otherwise ignored him until he had dropped a wheel of Camembert cheese in front of his face.

He perked up when Nathalie knocked on the door and popped off the couch, hurrying over to answer the door.

“Hello, Nathalie,” he greeted cordially, staying in the doorway so his father’s assistant wouldn’t invite herself into his room. He didn’t want her to see Plagg snoozing away peacefully and didn’t want to move him either.

“Hello, Adrien,” she returned, scrolling through something on her tablet after giving him a perfunctory glance. “I wanted to discuss your schedule for tomorrow.

“Of course.”

“After school you have fencing, as you know, but after that you have two shoots, back to back. Same studio so we should be set without too much rushing around. However, it looks as though we’ll be working long hours. You’ll have to eat dinner there. Is there anything in particular you wish to have prepared? Within reason, of course.” She pursed her lips before returning her gaze to him to await his answer.

Adrien repressed a sigh. Business as usual. “Anything works for me, Nathalie, thank you for your consideration.”

“Very good.” She said, “Have a good night, Adrien.”

“You too, Nathalie.” He said and watched as she turned and stiffly walked away down the hall. Finally he released the sigh from his lips.

What a way to take the wind out of his sails. Shutting the door, he trudged back to the couch and unceremoniously flopped back down on it with a little groan. He had a nice break today, at least. He should have known better to hope that his whole first week of school could be without his pesky business obligations. What he wouldn’t give to be a normal kid for a week. Just a week. He groaned and pulled one of the couch pillows up and pressed it into his face. The next groan was at least a little muffled by it.

He thought about his friends and took a moment to envy them. Yeah, he knew they had their own problems but that didn’t mean he couldn’t take a few minutes to wallow in self pity. Surely he had earned that much.

Then again it wasn’t exactly fun. He rolled his eyes and tossed the pillow to the floor before peeking his head over the arm of the couch to look at the sleeping kwami. “Hey Plagg,” he called out innocently.

“No.” The kwami grunted and turned over so he faced away from his charge.

“Hey _Plaaaaagg_ ,” Adrien called again, wiggling a little as he propped his chin on the arm rest.

“Forget it, kid.”

“But you don’t even know what I was going to say!” Adrien pouted with full on kitten eyes.

“I’m tired.” Plagg didn’t even bother to look back at him. Not that the expression would have worked anyway. Plagg freakin’ invented kitten eyes. Literally.

“Aww, come on Plagg. Just a quick run.” Adrien pleaded, jutting his lip out as he crawled over the arm and maneuvered so he was in front of the kwami’s face.

The small cat god cracked open one eye and growled. Okay, so the kid gave good kitten eyes. “Fine. But you owe me. Two wheels.”

“One.” Adrien returned easily, resisting the urge to pump his fist in victory.

“Fine. And a favor in the future.”

“What kind of favor?” Adrien quirked his brow in curiosity, not knowing for the life of him what the kwami could possibly want from him that wasn’t disgusting, smelly cheese.

“Don’t you worry about that for right now. Deal?” Plagg said shortly, opening both eyes fully and stretching out with a yawn.

“Deal.” Adrien grinned and straightened up. “Plagg, transform me!” Plagg didn’t gripe as he was pulled into the ring and Adrien felt the rush of magic overflow him, coating his skin bit by bit.

And then Chat Noir disappeared into the night.

======

Marinette sat with her feet tucked under herself as she sat on her balcony, perched on her little lawn chair. Her sketchbook was on her lap but she was preoccupied, looking out over the railing at the lights of the city. Tikki was busy snoozing away in one of her potted plants as she tapped her pencil against her leg absentmindedly. It was a lovely night out. Warm but no longer the stifling heat of summer, the sun had almost finished setting and the lovely dark of night was settling in over her city. She was in her pajamas already, her hair down and still damp from her evening shower. She straightened up a little as she realized she saw a shadow jumping across the roofs. _An akuma?_ She thought to herself, but relaxed as soon as she realized it was just her partner bounding about. It wasn’t a patrol night but she had seen him racing across the city fairly often even when they hadn’t scheduled any sort of patrol. She had long since realized that the mask for him meant a sense of freedom that he didn’t get in his civilian life.

A soft smile took over face and she found herself standing and leaning against her railing to watch him. He seemed happy. Her smile grew.

He seemed so carefree. It warmed her heart to the point- oh. Oh dear. He had seen her staring at him. And now he was bounding her way. Panic flared up in her for a moment as she quickly looked to the potted plant that housed Tikki’s sleeping form and she tried to decide the best course of action before ultimately deciding to hope for the best (hopefully her Ladybug Luck™ would be on her side) and letting her kwami sleep undisturbed. Hopefully she would remain as such and stay hidden amongst the leaves and flowers.

One last bound and he was crouched on the railing, grinning widely at her. “Good evening, purrincess.” He crooned, swinging his legs down to perch more comfortably on the banister.

“Hey, Chat,” she smiled and leaned back a bit to take him in. “Patrolling?”

“How’d you guess?” He smirked and hopped down, circling around to her other side and leaning back against the wall.

“And your patrol just happened to take you right by my little balcony? How very lucky for me.” She grinned, following his movements and settling back against the rail again to observe him lazily.

“Indeed.” He drummed his fingers against his thighs for a moment before he got too fidgety to stay still and started to prowl again. So like a cat, she smirked. “And for me as well to find the lovely princess upon her balcony. Waiting for your prince, I suppose?”

Marinette had to desperately fight the urge to roll her eyes. “Sure, if you say so.”

“A prince, I’m not. I hope your knight will suffice for now.” Okay, she couldn’t hold the eye roll back that time. “Is that a no?”

“Chat, I’m no damsel waiting for a prince, or a knight. But I wouldn’t mind hanging out with a _friend_.” She smiled and reached out, gently poking his nose in that familiar motion. If he made any sort of connection he said nothing. Of course he wouldn’t. She was nothing like Ladybug, after all.

His ears perked up at that and he was grinning again. “A friend? I can do that.”

“Good.” Marinette returned to the lounge chair and perched against the back of it. She crooked her finger at him with a smile and patted the end of the chair with her other hand. He followed her silent instruction and sat, looking over at her almost as though he couldn’t decide between excitement or confusion at what to do next. She chuckled and leaned back. “How was your day?” A simple nicety to start, but still…

“Oh. Pretty good, actually! I went back to school today-” He halted suddenly and looked alarmed. She blinked at him… and then her smile softened.

“I kind of already figured you were in high school, Chat,” she offered. “Or at least maybe university. Don’t worry.”

“Right. Right.” He muttered, rubbing the back of his neck nervously as a weak chuckle fell from his lips. Something as simple as that wouldn’t give him away, surely, but he still worried over raising his lady’s ire. “Well… first day back. It was nice to be able to see my friends again after so long. Summer was… well, it was busy.” He sighed and stretched his legs out in front of him. “I missed school. Is that weird?”

Marinette smiled and shook her head. “Not at all. I did too, actually.” She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin upon them. “I missed all of my friends over the summer. It was kind of lonely. I’m glad everyone’s back again.”

“Yeah,” he nodded absentmindedly and suddenly Chat found himself studying Marinette. He felt silly for not having realized that perhaps she had felt that same loneliness he had been dealing with during their summer break. Certainly she had different circumstances than him, at least she had her parents at her side, but Alya and Nino had both been gone, and though he knew she was friendly with everyone in their class, she must have felt their absence as much as he had.

“Do you like your classes?”

“Mm, yeah. I mean, they’re classes but they’re not bad, you know?” He hummed to himself. He wasn’t exactly sure if it was a good idea to go into any sort of detail considering she was in some of his classes with him. “I’m more excited about spending time with everyone.”

“Hah. Me too.” He looked over to see her smiling brightly at him.

“What about you? Taking anything fun?”

“Oh, yeah!” She brightened up and he felt his own smile grow wider as she watched her blossom. “I was able to take art as an elective this year, which I’m really looking forward to! We have a good teacher and he seems pretty laid back. I think I’ll get to work on some designs. Plus I have a few really good friends in it with me. I’m pretty excited for it!” She grinned and plucked her sketchbook up off the ground next to the chair and flipped it open. “We were talking about basics today which kind of dragged on but he said we would get on to the good stuff soon. Plus I got some doodle time in.” With a proud grin, she turned to the page she had been working on during class earlier and turned it to show him.

“Wow,” Chat whistled low, taking the book from her. “You’re so talented, princess!” The page was littered with doodles of flowers, a couple of skirts and… was that a hamster? He tilted it and squinted then grinned. Yup. A hamster. Cute. “You could probably teach that class.”

“What? No way, I’m nowhere near that level!” She laughed and grabbed her sketchbook back from him. “But thanks. I try.”

“And succeed, by the look of it.” He smiled and nudged her foot with his knee. “Don’t sell yourself short.”

“I’m not.” She smiled and nudged him back with her toes. “I just know that I still have a long way to go.”

“Anything else in there I can peek at?” Chat’s curiosity was piqued. He didn’t often get to see the contents of Mari’s sketchbook and he wanted to peek at what she had been designing over summer break. He wasn’t sure he had the courage to just up and ask her out of nowhere as Adrien, but here was his chance.

“Oh. Um… I guess, sure. But don’t laugh. Some of them are pretty bad.” He gave her a look but she just shrugged before relinquishing the book back to his waiting claws.

Making sure to be careful, he paged through it. “Wow…” he muttered. “Wow. Wow!”

When he looked up he saw a familiar blush staining her cheeks as she watched him in wait. “Is… is it a good wow?” She asked softly.

“Is it a good wow? It’s a _great_ wow!” He grinned and turned back another page. “I could never think of any of these designs. Everything is so… so… wow.” He couldn’t think of another word for it. She really was talented. “Have you made any of these?” he asked, turning another page and scanning it.

“Oh. Uh, yeah. Probably around half of them. I’d do more but some just aren’t suitable for every day wear and some would require fabric that is kind of out of my price range. I mean I could save up for them but then I’m not really sure where I would wear them.”

“You should sell some of them. I’m sure they’d be popular.” Chat murmured, tracing the lines of a dress lightly. “Do you wear them often?”

“A couple. But I don’t really wear my favorites. I’m afraid of tripping and ruining them. And a lot of the dresses would probably not be good to trip in. I’m kind of a klutz.” She chuckled at herself and curled a strand of hand around her finger nervously. She dreaded even the idea of tripping in one of her dress designs and flashing the entire class.

_Oh, I’ve noticed._ Chat thought to himself and simply smiled at her. But it was cute, somehow, how she stumbled over her words and her feet sometimes around him. Of course he certainly didn’t find it amusing that she may trip and hurt herself but she always popped back up right as rain and bright as ever. It was admirable. “You should wear them more often. A princess deserves to wear finery such as this.” He held the page he had been tracing out to her with a big smile. “I think you’d look beautiful in it.”

Her cheeks darkened to an even deeper shade of red and she glanced away, tugging at the strand of hair. “I mean… I guess… thank you?” She muttered and carefully took the book back from him. How was it that she felt that familiar curl of heat behind her cheeks that always flared up around Adrien when her partner complimented her like that? He flirted with her all the time when she was in her spots and she never had this sort of reaction.

It must have been because he didn’t just sound like he was simply flirting. He sounded _genuine_ and it was throwing her off. She swallowed and turned back to him to say something else, but she was cut off by the incessant beeping of his ring.

“Hmm,” he frowned and peered down at it. “Looks like this cat has to bounce.” He said and popped up off of the lawn chair. “Have a good evening, princess.” Chat grinned down at her once more and dipped into a ridiculous bow.

“Good night, Chat,” she returned softly, and then watched as he bounded off into the night. And she watched until he was out of sight. And then she shook herself out of her daze and stood, gently scooping up the still sleeping Tikki gently in her cupped hands before heading inside. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien Agreste and the very bad no good day
> 
> At least until he turns into Chat and finds that his night becoming much better.

The next week passed by without incident and Adrien found himself easily falling back into routine. His second day back was a little more hectic than he would have preferred. On top of two photo shoots after school and fencing, he found himself facing off against an akuma during lunch break. His lady had been late to show up, and he had managed but it had been an annoying fight. Twice he had been knocked into a bundle of bushes as he tried to hold it back while he waited for Ladybug to arrive. When he arrived to his first photo shoot that afternoon, the hair stylist clucked at him and pulled several leaves out of his hair and he grumbled out some half-assed excuse that he knew the stylist wasn’t buying.

But aside from that day, everything had gone smoothly. Classes were starting to pick back up, everything was flowing, he and his friends were enjoying each others’ company every day. Everything was coming up Adrien. So of course, he should have expected his accursed black cat bad luck would be overdue to kick in.

Monday morning started off normal enough. He awoke with his alarm. He took a shower. He ate breakfast. He headed off to school.

That’s when the bad luck started.

His car got stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. With a grunt, the Gorilla turned around and informed him that an akuma was rampaging downtown and had caused the back-up so they were stuck. He tried to explain that he needed to get to school and said he would simply walk the rest of the way. They weren’t too far off after all. The Gorilla answered by locking the doors and activating the child locks (how humiliating). He groaned and crossed his arms. Then he tried to reason that his father wouldn’t want him to be a sitting duck in the car in case the akuma came their way. The Gorilla, unfortunately, was not budging on the matter.

So he took to his phone, quickly navigating to the Ladyblog to check for live updates. Apparently Ladybug had yet to arrive on the scene and people were freaking out. He had contemplated on how much trouble he would be in if he tried to break the window in order to get out of the car so he could find some place to transform but halted when he had the pleasure of seeing his lady swinging right past his car on her way toward the rampaging akuma downtown.

She managed on her own. But that didn’t make him any less bitter about missing the fight and it showed when he came into the school with a scowl on his face a half hour late. He got a pointed look from his teacher when he skirted into class nearing the end of the period and tried to explain but it was obvious his teacher was bitter despite the very valid excuse. At least he didn’t get written up for it; he could deal with the sour looks. The moment lunch rolled around, after he had finally managed to relax a bit, he headed toward the courtyard in hopes of meeting up with Nino, Alya, and Marinette. Before he could even get there, he had been all out tackled by Chloe who clung onto his arm and hung off of him as she begged him to come to lunch with her.

He really wanted nothing more than to pry her off of his arm and leave her to her own devices, but instead he grit his teeth and put on his polite, practiced smile. Instead of letting him speak his mind, she took his smile as a yes and immediately dragged him off to her waiting car that took them to the hotel where he had to sit through a lunch full of Chloe talking his ear off about the new shoes and purse she had bought and how she had gotten the last pair and blah-blah-blah. He was fairly certain he could have fallen asleep at the table and she wouldn’t have noticed, content to blab on to his unconscious body.

When he returned to school it was with Chloe still hanging off his arm. He saw Marinette but she did no more than offer him a smile before skirting off down the hall. Well, so much for her saving him. He wanted to be bitter but he knew she had her own class to be getting to. Unfortunately his next class was with Chloe so he had the blond lamprey hanging from him all the way down the hall.

The end of the day brought a relief. At least until he entered the car to find that Nathalie was waiting for him in the opposite seat with her trusty tablet in her lap. She readily informed him that he had a surprise photo shoot that had been moved up from that weekend as something had come up for the photographer and since he had free time that afternoon, they had of course rearranged it for the photographer’s sake. Because of course Adrien couldn’t use some free time of his own.

He was cursing his life by the time he got home at nearly ten that evening. The shoot had run long. He had to deal with three other models for the shoot, and one was just not there. He wasn’t sure if they were drunk, or high, or just altogether unprofessional, but they had to do so many retakes that Adrien had been convinced his lips were going to fall off from his plastered on smile. He was surprised he hadn’t ended the day with charges for manslaughter (because honestly, could he be blamed for homicide against that idiot?).

Adrien groaned as he kicked off his shoes and fell face first onto the bed. Plagg squawked and wiggled out of his front pocket. “Hey! Watch the merchandise! You almost squashed me you Sasquatch!” he grumped.

“Sorry,” Adrien muttered into the heavy comforter beneath him.

Plagg huffed and crossed his arms, floating above his chosen for a solid moment before he relented and asked. “Hey, kid, you okay?”

Adrien rolled himself over and stared up at his ceiling blankly. “I’m just so very, very done with today. Today sucks. I’d like it to be tomorrow now, please.” Plagg heaved an exaggerated sigh and sank down to lay on his boy’s chest, starting up a gentle, rumbling purr. “… thanks, Plagg,” Adrien muttered and threw a small smile down at the little god.

“No problem, kid.” Plagg muttered, curling up.

“Hey Plagg?” Adrien asked after a moment.

“Yeah, kid?”

“Would you mind if we got out of here for a bit?”

Plagg hesitated. He really wanted nothing more than to laze about, take a nap, eat some delicious Camembert… but his kid was miserable after the day he had. “Yeah, kid. Let’s go out.”

So a good twenty minutes later found Chat running along the roof tops of Paris, feeling the wind in his hair as he went. And he just breathed, and just ran. And he felt okay again. The moon was bright that night, almost full, and he found himself coming to a stop after a while and taking a seat on a roof top so that he could just lean back and look up at it in awe. It was nigh impossible to see the stars in the city, but the moon still shone brightly down over it. He kicked his legs as they dangled over the edge of the roof and smiled. This was freedom, and he wished so often that this could be all there was to his life. Sometimes he wished that he could just be Chat all the time, and that Adrien could fade away.

His reverie was broken as he heard his name being called and he perked up, straightening and swiveling his gaze. “Chat, is that you?” Marinette called from her balcony just across the way. Huh. How had he ended up here yet again? It had only been a week and yet somehow he found himself back at his classmate’s house. He waved at her and she returned the gesture. “You want some cocoa?” She called out, and he found himself grinning and soon he found himself on her balcony.

“Cocoa, you say? This knight would never turn down cocoa.”

Marinette laughed that lovely laugh at hers that brightened her whole face up. “All right. Wait right here.” She grinned and set her own mug down. She disappeared back into her room and he leaned back against the railing to await her return. When she returned a few moments later she carried not only a mug filled to the brim with delicious hot cocoa, but a plate filled with bakery goodies. “These are left over from today but they aren’t stale or anything. Figured you could use a snack.” She smiled brightly and set the platter of treats down on the lounger.

“Why thank you, princess,” he cooed and graciously accepted the mug from her hands. Before swooping down and nabbing a croissant.

“Can’t let my knight go hungry, can I?” She grinned at him whilst picking her own mug back up carefully. For some reason he felt his face heat up. She had called him her knight. He cleared his throat awkwardly before taking a big bite of pastry. She hadn’t played along with him calling her princess before. It was… _nice_ for her to do so. Warmed him inside. He swallowed and carefully took a sip of the steaming cocoa before adopting another grin.

“This is delicious.” He chirped.

“Maman made a whole batch of it today. She knows the cold tends to get to me.”

“Must be nice,” he cooed and blew over the surface of his cocoa.

“Hmm?”

“Oh. Nothing.” He shook his head and instead just smiled at her. She studied him for a moment before taking a sip of her own and letting the subject drop, thankfully.

“Hey, Chat…” Marinette said softly after a few moments of quiet.

“Yeah?” He asked, glancing over the edge of his mug at her.

“Are you… are you okay?”

His eyes widened and he blinked a few times, mulling over what could have possibly caused her to ask that. Was he acting off? Maybe but not in such a way that she should have been able to notice. She barely knew Chat, after all. Then again, Marinette was always helping people. Maybe she was just very in tune with others’ emotions. He scratched at his neck and sighed out. “Yeah. I’m okay. I just had a really off day. Ever have one of those?”

Her brow knit together and she stared at him like he’d grown a second head. “Have I ever? Of course I have! More often than I’d like really.” She tilted her head to the side. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Not really.” He muttered and set his newly empty mug down on the railing.

She nodded slowly. “Okay.” She set her mug down beside his and turned to him, opening her arms up wide. “Do you want a hug, then?”

He blinked at her again. _What?_ She waited patiently, and he soon found himself leaning into her and wrapping his arms around her shoulders loosely. When he felt her arms encircle his midsection he let himself relax and breathed out shakily. Huh. Apparently he needed a hug. He felt the remainder of his daily stress melting away as she squeezed him gently. And then it was over and she was stepping back and he found himself left wanting for that warmth again. “Thanks.” He muttered instead, blushing fiercely. He hoped his mask was enough to hide it from her since the moon was too bright to allow any cover from the dark of night.

“Any time.” She was smiling that soft, sweet smile. “I mean it, Chat. Any time you need a hug, or want to, well… _chat_ …” She grinned as he chuckled, “then come and see me.”

“You really are a princess.” He said softly, leaning forward and putting his hands on her shoulders. She didn’t answer, just placed one hand over one of his and tilted her head as she looked up at him with those deep blue eyes. Her eyes seemed even more beautiful in the moonlight.

_Wait a second, where did that come from?_


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien's eyes get a treat and his mouth makes a bit of a faux pas

The next morning, Adrien awoke with the same question on his mind.

What was that?

What the _hell_ was that?

He felt his face flushing as he stared at his ceiling as though the answer to his question was etched in the grooves above him.

Plagg groaned next to him and rolled over before flitting over to his phone… and unceremoniously knocking it off of the bedside table. “If you aren’t going to turn off that damn alarm I will cataclysm your phone.” The small god warned before returning to his post on Adrien’s pillow and curling back up again. Adrien huffed out a sigh before forcing himself out of bed so he could stoop down and scoop up his phone. He swiped the alarm off and tossed it on the bed before trudging into the bathroom with a loud yawn.

He went through the motions of getting ready for his day without paying all that much attention to his routine. He didn’t really snap to again until he was in the car and on the way to school. And yet that question hung at the back of his mind. Sure. He wasn’t so dumb that he hadn’t realized Marinette was an attractive girl. It was objective fact. Most boys he knew at their school had a thing for her at some point or another. So yeah, he knew she was pretty. She was pretty like Alya was pretty, like Rose was pretty, and so on and so forth. And yet, for some reason, he had never before taken note of the details. There was no real reason to. He had his lady, his love. So when all of a sudden, last night that detail had practically stuck a flag in his brain declaring its territory, it threw him.

When the car pulled up to the school, he managed to pull himself out and wandered over to where Nino stood, waiting for him. “Hey, dude!” Nino called and held out his fist. Adrien bumped it with his own with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. “Woah. You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m good. Just tired.” He said and forced a yawn.

“Okay.” Nino shrugged, convinced. After all, everyone knew Adrien had a hectic schedule. It was normal for someone to be tired after doing all that he did. “You ready for that bio lab?” Nino made a face of disgust.

Adrien let out a chuckle at the spectacle. “Yeah. It’s just a frog, Nino.”

“Yeah, a dead frog. That we have to cut open.” Nino’s face grew even more exaggerated in its show of disgust and Adrien finally full out laughed. “Glad to know my pain brings you so much joy, dude.”

“Yup. Thanks for that Nino.” Adrien grinned and clapped a hand on his friend’s back.

“Harsh,” Nino said, but followed along at Adrien’s side and the pair of them headed up into the school and toward their homeroom.

The homeroom was already pretty full up, only a few seats empty and waiting. Alya’s and Marinette’s, for example, were empty. Not that Adrien paid any special attention to that little fact. He quieted his traitorous brain and took his seat alongside Nino, halfheartedly listening to him as he prattled on about a weird dream he had the night before.

“And then your dad turned into this weird butterfly with giant Elton John sunglasses and started pelting you with pokeballs. Except, as you know, you’re no pokemon but like, dream logic dude. So you screamed _Adrien Adrien_ at him and climbed a tree.”

Well, that was a fun part to tune into. “Nino, have you been smoking the pots?” Adrien asked with a completely straight face.

Nino snorted and shook his head. “I’m choosing to believe that you’re purposely fucking up the slang to mess with me right now because if you’re still that damn sheltered I’m failing at my job as your best friend.”

Adrien rolled his eyes but merely grinned. “Yeah? And what exactly is the job description as my best friend?”

“To corrupt your poor, innocent soul. Duh.” Nino rolled his eyes and gave him a look. “Don’t worry, we have a whole new school year to bring you down into the gutter with the rest of us cretins.” He wiggled his eyebrows emphatically and Adrien couldn’t help but crack up.

“Wow, nice to know I’m your official pet project for the year.”

“What are best friends for, dude?”

Adrien may have been about to come back with something. But he had no idea what he could have possibly been about to say anymore.

Because now his attention was glued to the pair of girls coming through the door, all smiles and laughter. She was wearing it. His eyes ignored his well learned manners and trailed slowly up the length of her, taking in each centimeter.

Marinette was wearing the dress he had seen in her sketchbook. It was a black halter dress with white polka dots and large, red rose blooms littered across it and had a black ribbon around her ribs, accentuating how tiny her waist was. As they passed, Adrien turned to greet the both of them good morning but his voice caught in his throat and he felt his mouth go dry as a desert. There was no back. It was all creamy, pale skin.

He had no idea that his mouth was open until Nino reached over and pushed it closed with his forefinger, giving a pointed look and a smirk that made Adrien’s face go hot. Lucky for him, Marinette was too busy going through her bag to have noticed (he hoped, anyway). Unluckily (which was much more his speed), Alya was giving him a knowing look and grinning wickedly. He gulped and muttered a quick greeting before whipping around in his seat, willing his face to cool down so he could stop looking like an extra in Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.

“Good morning,” he heard her soft reply from behind him and sunk down in his seat a little with a hunch of his shoulders. He could feel his neck heating up too and hoped to at least cover up his blush as best he could. But she said nothing, although that could of course be because she was just sweet enough to not want to make him feel awkward.

So lucky him, Adrien got to spend the short homeroom period trying to calm himself down and not paying any attention to the teacher spouting off their morning announcements or the idle chatter of his classmates. It wasn’t until their first proper class started that he felt it was safe to relax his posture. “You okay dude?” Nino asked as the teacher turned to start writing something on the board. “You’re, eh, lookin’ a little hot under the collar.’

“Shut up,” Adrien muttered, rubbing his eyes gently.

He made it through the morning somehow despite Nino’s good natured ribbing and finally was able to breathe a sigh of relief as lunch rolled around. It helped that Alya and Marinette had skipped off arm in arm to the bakery and he and Nino were on their own for lunch.

“So…” Nino muttered, fishing his bagged lunch out from his locker.

“So.” Adrien muttered, watching his friend warily.

“So…” He said again, turning around and shutting his locker.

Adrien sighed and waited, knowing what was coming.

“Mari looks cute today, huh?” the shit-eating grin was back and Adrien had to stifle a groan as he followed Nino out to the courtyard.

“Nino, I swear to god.” He grumbled, sitting across from his friend at one of the stone tables.

“What? Just saying, man.” Nino shrugged, adopting an innocent face as he pulled a sandwich from his sack lunch. “Anyone with eyes can see it.”

“Yeah. Okay Yeah, she’s cute. What of it?”

“Hmm…” Nino’s sudden lack of conversation made Adrien raise his brow at his friend. He did not for one minute think he would just let it drop. He pulled out his own lunch and tucked in.

The uncharacteristic silence was already starting to make his skin itch and he glanced up at Nino. But the other boy studiously ignored him in favor of his sandwich. “Ugh. What do you want me to say?” Adrien groused, slamming his fork down on the table.

“Hmm? Nothing, dude.” Nino said, all innocence still as he peered up at his blond friend. “Nothing at all.”

“We’re just friends.”

“Aww, I thought we were _best_ friends.” Nino put on a practiced pout.

“No, I mean Marinette and I. We, she and I, are just friends.” Adrien groaned and settled into a stern glare as Nino put on a nice imitation of baby-doll eyes. “For fucks sake, Nino. You need to stop trying to get me to say I like Marinette. I just see her as a friend. That’s all we’ll ever be. Stop pushing me.” He didn’t realize how loud his voice had gotten until he realized his little speech was followed by complete silence. He glanced around at the courtyard and felt his face heat up in shame.

“Hey guys.” And there was the final nail in the coffin. He repressed a groan and turned around to see Alya and Marinette standing behind him, Alya offering an awkward wave as Marinette stood quietly at her side. They had a bag from the bakery each hanging from their grips. Well fuck.

“Marinette, I…” He trailed off, not really knowing what to say. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings. He didn’t want to break the tentative friendship that had finally started growing stronger after so long.

She blinked her big blue eyes and he felt himself faltering. “Uh… it’s okay Adrien, don’t worry about it.” She said quickly, her own face taking on a soft pink hue. She rubbed her arm with her free hand for a moment, looking to the side. “Uh. I totally forgot my sketchbook at home. I’ll be back in time for classes, okay?” And before he could even think of anything to say to smooth it over, she was off like a bullet.

“Shit.” He muttered and hung his head before swinging around and dropping his face down to the table.

“You said it, dude.” Nino muttered, reaching out and patting him on the shoulder.

“I’m going to go make sure she’s okay.” Adrien peeked up to see Alya hovering over them. He was honestly surprised she wasn’t looking at him with murder in her eyes. The girl had always acted like a protective lioness mother when it came to her best friend. But as if she knew what he was thinking, she offered a small smile to him. “Don’t worry Adrien. My girl is strong as hell. You can’t help how you feel.” She nudged him gently against his foot with her own. “Just maybe next time don’t yell it out in public, yeah?”

“Right…” he muttered, still feeling like utter trash. Alya quickly hurried off after Marinette and left the two boys where they were seated. He swung his head around to look at Nino. “How bad did I just fuck everything up?”

“Hey… Marinette’s not like that, Adrien. She’d never hold it against you if you don’t feel the same way about her.” Wait. What?

“ _What_?”

“Shit.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath, the anxiety...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> O_O I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. Much Love!

When Alya burst through the bakery doors, Sabine gave her a gentle, knowing look before directing her up to Marinette’s room. When she entered it was like a crime scene. Shreds of paper were everywhere and Marinette was huddled up in the middle of the hurricane. “Oh, hun…” Alya cooed soft, taking note that the scraps were from the posters that had been ripped from the wall. She knelt beside Marinette and placed her pastry bag down before embracing her friend in a tight hug.

The small girl hiccuped and buried her face in Alya’s chest, and the curvy girl sighed as she pet Marinette’s head gently. “I’m so stupid.”

The whisper cut through the sobs and Alya blinked before carefully pushing Mari back. “Mari. Mari, look at me.” She waited until the girl in question lifted her head, cheeks absolutely flooded with fat, wet tears. “You are not stupid. You are one of the most brilliant people I know.” Alya brought her hand up and carefully wiped one cheek dry as best she could. She briefly wondered if she should get a handkerchief or some tissues but she was reluctant to leave Mari’s side for even that.

“I thought maybe I had a chance.” Marinette sniffled, roughly wiping at her nose with the back of her hand and leaned back into Alya’s waiting arms. “But I shouldn’t have fooled myself. I’m just a clumsy, silly girl, with a silly school girl crush that was never going to amount to anything more.”

“Marinette, you are allowed to have a crush. You are a teenage girl. It’s kind of what we do.” Alya said sternly, though she wasn’t sure it was even helping. Marinette was sobbing all over again. She had a subtle itch of guilt settling at the back of her own mind. She had been pushing Mari toward Adrien all this time in the hopes that the boy would open his eyes. But maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. But it was not the time to wallow in her own regret over her role. Now she was needed by her best friend. “Let it all out, hun,” she cooed and carefully undid Marinette’s pigtails, carding her fingers through her hair.

And so she sat with Marinette as she cried it all out. She sat there so long her legs lost feeling. She didn’t even realize it until Sabine cautiously peered into Marinette’s room. “Lunch is about over, dears. Marinette, I’ll understand if you need to stay home. But Alya, I’m sure your mother would prefer you return to classes.”

“Right.” Alya said softly and carefully stood, legs shaking in protest but she helped Marinette up nonetheless.

“Thanks, maman,” Marinette uttered softly, and Alya waited until Sabine had come to their sides, gently wrapping her arm around Marinette’s shoulders. “I’ll talk to you later Alya…” And she forced a little smile that made Alya’s heart ache in her chest. “Thanks for checking on me.”

“I’m here for you. Always.” Alya said firmly, moving forward to hug Marinette as tight as she could. Marinette’s returning embrace was weak, but Alya let it go, and let her go before heading to school.

When she returned, Adrien and Nino were standing awkwardly at the top of the steps leading into the school and she sighed, steeling herself for their questions.

“Is Marinette all right?” It was Adrien who spoke first, looking nervous and shy. She almost wished they weren’t friends so she could properly be mad at him. But like she had said, it wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t like he could control who he liked and who he didn’t. And he was a sweet boy, not a mean bone in his body.

“She will be. I think she’s just shocked more than anything.” Alya lied smoothly.

“She’s strong.” Nino added. “Don’t worry.”

But Adrien couldn’t help but worry about her. She didn’t come back to school, after all. She was more affected by his blunder than Alya was letting on. He knew she was trying to spare his feelings but it seemed silly to do so when he had completely embarrassed Marinette. They should be worried about her feelings right now, not his. But he didn’t say anything against it and soon they were parting ways.

Art class was dull that day. He kept finding himself glancing at the empty chair next to his where she would usually be perched. They were still on basics, though the teacher had insisted they were at the tail end of that section and would be wrapping up soon, so Adrien allowed himself to drift in and out. His thoughts kept returning to the blue-eyed girl who was probably hidden away in her room at the bakery.

Should he check on her himself? Would that even be a good idea?

Ugh, no, he couldn’t anyway. He had a photo shoot scheduled that he had to leave for directly after school.

He found himself drumming his fingers on the table top during his next period. He didn’t feel right just leaving it where it was. He made a mistake, he had to apologize for it. He briefly considered texting her before realizing he didn’t even have her phone number yet. And then he further realized it was probably a shitty thing to apologize via text for what he did. He carded his hand through his hair with a frustrated groan.

Biology, his last class of the day, was not the distraction he had hoped it would be. Instead, Nino kept having to beg him to help as his mind wandered away to the little bakery on the corner a couple of blocks away. It wasn’t until Nino had to all-out run from the room to be sick that Adrien forced himself to buckle down and get to work. If only for Nino’s sake.

Nino didn’t even return until the frogs had been removed from the desks and Adrien was halfway done with his notes. “You okay?” he asked, sparing a glance at his friend while the DJ shakily took his seat.

“I never wanted to see the inside of a frog before. I stand by my previous position firmly now.” He uttered, looking pale. “Fuck this class so hard.”

“Wait until we get to the mammals.” Adrien chuckled, then full on laughed when Nino dropped his head on the desk.

“Fuck my life.” He grumbled, scrunching his eyes shut.

When school was out, Nino and Adrien met up with Alya in the hall and slowly walked toward the front doors together.

“Are you going to go and check on Mari?” Nino asked, directing his attention to his sort-of-girlfriend.

“I want to but I’m stuck watching the brats.” Alya said with an eye roll. “I’ll be busy but I can text with her at least. If she answers, that is.” She fished her phone out of her pocket and checked the lock screen before sighing heavily and returning it to its resting place. “Do you think you can?”

“You sure she wants company?” Nino asked with a raised brow.

“No, I’m sure she doesn’t. But I’m worried…” Alya trailed off, catching Adrien’s eye. “I mean I know she’ll be fine…”

“Alya, stop sugar coating it for me. I know I fucked up.” Adrien groaned. He did not like that the pair of them were walking around on eggshells around him. “I’m worried about her too, so let’s focus on that, okay?”

Alya took a moment before nodding shortly. “Right. Sorry, Adrien.” She sighed and ran her hand through her hair. “I’m just worried because it’s not exactly safe to be emotional these days.”

Adrien paled as soon as the words left her mouth. Shit. He hadn’t even thought about that. He felt his insides twist up. He didn’t know how he would face an akumatized Marinette, especially considering the fact it would have been all his fault she had been possessed in the first place. He suddenly felt as sick as Nino had been earlier during biology.

“You… you don’t think she could, do you?” he heard his voice leave his throat in a weak tone.

“I mean…” Alya sighed again and halted at the top of the stairs. “It’s never happened before. She’s kind of overdue… but that being said, if she’s dealt with Chloe as long as she has and still hasn’t gone under, we might be worrying over nothing.” She didn’t exactly want to elaborate on how distraught Marinette really was, she wasn’t about to out her friend’s crush to the boy himself.

But Adrien was already off in his own nightmare fueled fantasy land. What kind of akuma would Marinette be? He grimaced and offered a distracted farewell to his friends before hurrying down the steps and getting into his waiting car. The whole ride to the shoot was filled with swirling doubts on his ability to face the monster he had helped create. His throat felt dry.

He knew he had no choice. It was his duty as one of Paris’s superheroes to face the akuma that were sent by Hawkmoth. But he wasn’t sure he could hide his guilt from his lady. She knew him too well. He swallowed in attempts to moisturize his tongue but it did no good and he did it again and again.

He found himself carefully pulling his phone from his pocket in order to scroll through The Ladyblog. Nothing yet. But he still couldn’t breathe easy.

His chest felt tight when he exited the car at the studio where the shoot was taking place. He checked his phone at least ten more times while he sat in chairs getting his makeup and hair done, barely managing to make polite conversation with the stylists. His mind was gone by the time the actual shoot began.

Vincent snapped at him more times than he would have liked to admit and the shoot ended up running until seven when it had been scheduled to end at five. He did not look forward to the questioning that he would be facing from his father. At least it wouldn’t be in person. He knew for a fact his father was out of town on business for the next several days so at least his lecture would be delivered via face-chat on Nathalie’s trusted tablet.

He found himself straight up staring at his phone throughout the drive back to the mansion. And then still throughout dinner. He almost took it with him to the shower but realized it wouldn’t do if he shorted it out in the water so he left it with clear instructions to Plagg that he be notified if Chat was needed.

“Duh.” Plagg answered him with an exaggerated eye roll.

When he emerged from the shower, he looked at Plagg expectantly but the kwami simply shrugged and popped another piece of disgusting, smelly cheese down his gullet. Adrien groaned and roughly ran his hands through his hair. He couldn’t take this waiting.

He hoped to god that Alya was right and Marinette was strong enough that she wouldn’t be vulnerable to Hawkmoth’s influence. But his guilt was like a vice on his heart and he didn’t last long before he stopped his pacing and made a decision.

“I need to check on her.” He stated, sounding much more calm than he felt.

“You mean pigtails?” Plagg asked nonchalantly, lounging on Adrien’s pillow.

“Marinette.” Adrien corrected automatically.

“Right, right. Mari-tails. Whatever.” Plagg rolled over and stretched. “You’ll see her tomorrow just talk to her then.”

“I can’t wait that long. What if Hawkmoth gets to her tonight?” Adrien said in an exasperated tone with his hands on his hips.

“Wait, that’s what you’re worried about?” Plagg perked up, lifting into the air and lazily floating over to sit in front of Adrien’s face. “Kid-”

But before he could say anything else, Adrien shouted the magic words and the little god was pulled into his ring. And Chat Noir was bounding into the night.

——

When he arrived, he found her on her balcony leaning against the railing and staring up at the moon that hung in the sky. He landed softly behind her but by the way her shoulders tensed slightly, she had heard him arrive. “Hi, Chat Noir.” Her voice was scratchy and he felt the vice on his heart tighten. He paced ahead and leaned on the railing against her.

“Hi Princess.” He said softly, chancing a glance over at her face. Her eyes were red and a bit puffy, her face was pale. She didn’t look okay. He grimaced. Her hair was down and little flyaway strands clung to her cheeks, obviously having been adhered by dried tears.

“What are you doing here?” She asked softly, not turning to look at him. Instead she kept her gaze stubbornly fixed on the glowing orb hanging over them.

“I wanted to see you.” He said truthfully but didn’t expand on it.

“Why?”

His heart stopped. She sounded so defeated. He had done that. This wonderful, bubbly, happy girl had been taken down by his careless words. He felt disgusted with himself. He knew. He knew Alya was right. He couldn’t help who he liked. But that wasn’t the problem, was it?

He pushed his own feelings aside. This was for her. He needed to stop being selfish and focusing on his own insecurities, he came here to help his friend.

“Why wouldn’t I want to see my princess?” He smiled, turning to look at her head on. Her laugh was humorless and hollow but she turned to look at him and he saw the tiredness in her eyes. “What happened?” He couldn’t stop himself from asking the question. He already knew the answer. There was no need to ask. But she didn’t know that. She couldn’t know that.

She shook her head slowly and heaved a heavy sigh, carding her fingers back through her loose locks, peeling the strays from her cheeks as her fingers worked back. “Nothing out of the ordinary. I was… I was just being silly.” She sighed again and rubbed at her eyes.

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

She raised an eyebrow at him but shrugged when he didn’t withdraw his question. “I just… I had to face reality. It’s okay. I’ll be okay.” The breath she let out was shaky but she offered a small smile. He hesitated. He hated that he hesitated. “I like…” Marinette started, then grumbled at herself and self-corrected, “liked a boy. And he doesn’t like me like that. And it’s okay. Hell. It’s probably a good thing.” She laughed humorlessly again and turned back to stare at the moon. “I think I haven’t been a very good friend to him.”

“What?” Chat bit out in utter surprise. Leave it to Marinette to think she was the one at fault when it made no damn sense. “I highly doubt that, princess. I can’t imagine you being anything but a purrfect friend.” She rolled her eyes at him before returning her gaze up.

“You’d be surprised. I’m not… I think I was too focused on my fantasies to be a good friend. I feel like an idiot. The first year I knew him I wasted so much time. A good chunk of the second year too. Just because…” She shook her head. “I think I missed out.”

And now his heart was aching for an entirely different reason. He wasn’t sure he deserved a friend like Marinette in that moment. “Oh, princess…” he uttered. And then he reached out and pulled her into his arms. She squeaked and stumbled against him until she was flush against his chest. “I’m sorry…” He whispered into her hair as he nosed the top of her head, breathing in the scent of brown sugar and vanilla.

“What?… why are you sorry?” she asked, her voice muffled against his chest. But he didn’t answer, just squeezed her tighter.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moving on like a healthy, well adjusted young adult. Wait. What? Is that gonna last?

The next morning, Marinette felt like shit. She woke up before her alarm, much to her dismay and Tikki’s suprise, and rolled out of bed. And surprise, surprise, what she saw in the mirror was less than flattering. “Whatever,” she grumbled at her depressing reflection and started the shower.

A good fifteen minutes under water so hot that her skin resembled the color of her Ladybug suit left her feeling at least somewhat refreshed and more awake. And her face looked a little bit better now that she had cleaned up, she noted. Good. She felt like her mother may take pity on her and let her stay home for another day but she didn’t want to push it. And honestly, though she still felt that raw ache, she didn’t want to wallow anymore. Because what she said to Chat was true. She hadn’t been a great friend to Adrien. And she wanted to be. Yeah, she wasn’t going to heal over night. But just because he didn’t see her in a romantic light didn’t mean she couldn’t have him in her life.

And she would never give up his presence in her life, not if she could help it.

So with determination, she did her makeup to cover up the remaining puffiness and dark circles, give her cheeks a healthy, rosy glow, and moisturized her badly abused, chapped lips. She was definitely not feeling up to wearing a dress again, so she pulled on her regular pink jeans and a tee before topping it off with her typical dark blue blazer.

“You look better,” Tikki said with a smile, flitting around her head.

“Thanks, Tikki,” She smiled and reached out to gently scratch her on the little dot on her forehead. “I feel a bit better.”

“It was nice of Chat to comfort you last night.”

“It really was.” Marinette smiled and rubbed her arm absently. He had held her for a long time, even when she had another short bout of tears and hadn’t pulled away or balked at her being a silly girl. He had cooed and rubbed her back until she calmed down again. He really was one of the best friends she would ever have.

She started to pull her hair back into pigtails, carefully tugging her hair through the elastics, but yelped as the second elastic broke and snapped against her wrist. “Ouch.” She pouted, rubbing the red mark. She turned to her dresser to get another elastic but hesitated after opening the drawer. Maybe it was time for a change. She looked up at her mirror and looked at herself. She looked ridiculous, hair half up. She had her pigtails for so long the thought was a bit odd but she was seventeen now. Pigtails were a bit childish. Then again…

“Hey, Tikki.” She turned to look at her kwami who was hovering over her desk, nibbling on the edges of a chocolate chip cookie. “If I style my hair differently and transform, will Ladybug have my new style?”

Tikki swallowed before flitting over and situating herself on top of the dresser so she could look up at Marinette. “Not necessarily. It’ll take a bit of concentration on my part but I should be able to make you look like you have your pigtails still.”

“Okay, then.” Marinette said softly and pulled the remaining elastic from her hair. She didn’t have the patience to style it and leave it down for the day, so instead she pulled it half back before carefully swiveling her head so she could peer at her reflection. “Does this look all right?”

“You look great, Marinette!” Tikki trilled and grinned big. “Are you going to do this style from now on?”

“Not sure yet. I’ll try a few things out.” Marinette smiled and gave the little god another scratch on the head. “I just think it’s time for me to grow up.”

“I’m so proud of you.” Tikki cooed and flew up, nuzzling against her charge’s cheek affectionately.

“Thanks Tikki.” Marinette whispered in response before deciding her next grown up act needed to happen now. She carefully picked up the remaining pieces of scattered paper about her room from her (frankly embarrassing) tantrum. And when that was done, she carefully pulled down the old roll-away schedule. It wasn’t even accurate anymore. She hadn’t updated it in two years. But it had to go, and so she pulled it down and got rid of it too.

When everything was safely in the trash, she breathed a sigh of relief and studied her work. Her walls were awfully bare, but she resolved to cover it soon enough. Perhaps she could do some fully fledged, colored designs she could hang up. Maybe she could find some of her favorite pattern samples. And of course she could stand to take more pictures with her friends.

She paused and chewed on her lip, tasting the balm she had applied earlier. Adrien could be on her wall again… but no more posters. No more idolization. Just pictures of her friends. And she smiled.

When she left for school she felt lighter.

When she arrived, she was the first one in the classroom. Taking solace in the fact she had time to relax before facing the possible onslaught of questions and worrying glances, she retrieved her sketchbook and started on a new design. Her pencil flew across the page as she designed a simple hoodie. The shape down, she went about adding the little details. Before she knew it she was onto the next page. A dress was started. Again, she probably wouldn’t be wearing it any time soon, but her brain was full to the brim with ideas and she refused to stem the flow of creativity.

She barely noticed as the classroom steadily filled up. She didn’t even look up until she felt Alya leaning over her shoulder and wrapping her arms around her. “Oh. Good morning, Alya.” She greeted, blinking rapidly to try and focus on something other than her bright white sketchpad.

“Hey, girl,” Alya smiled. “Looking good. Designs are good too.” She grinned and nudged her cheek against Marinette’s.

“Thanks,” Marinette giggled and returned her attention to the paper. “Kind of on a roll here.”

Alya nodded and leaned back, sliding into the seat at Mari’s side. She resisted the urge to ask how Marinette was, not wanting to bring it up if she wasn’t already wallowing. But then, she knew how strong Mari was. Alya felt pride flare up inside of herself. That’s my girl.

  
Adrien stalled when he entered the classroom at Nino’s side. But at Nino’s insistent nudging, he dislodged himself from the doorway and cautiously walked toward his seat. Marinette hadn’t yet turned her attention on him so he glanced to Alya to gauge the situation. But Alya just caught his eye and smiled with a little shrug.

“Good morning, ladies.” Nino said brightly as he took his seat and tilted his cap jovially.

“Good morning,” Alya said and Marinette echoed her before realizing she had been addressed and she lifted her head.

“Sorry. Hey Nino.” She offered a smile before turning to Adrien. “Uh, good morning Adrien.”

“G-good morning,” he returned quickly. “Uhm. Marinette…” He felt his voice catch in his throat. “I just wanted to… to apologize for yesterday. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

And to his surprise, she laughed. And it didn’t seem forced, even. His heart swelled. He really didn’t deserve a friend like her. “Adrien, it’s okay. I’m okay. It’s sweet of you to worry about me.” She stood and reached out so that she could gently pat his shoulder. “Thank you. You’re such a great friend.”

“Y-you are too.” He stammered out. And then he swiftly sat down. He didn’t bother to glance at Nino and instead focused on retrieving his tablet from his bag and ignoring Plagg’s pointed stare like the plague.

———

That night found him perched upon the edge of the top platform of the Eiffel Tower beside his lady. “It’s nice out tonight,” Chat Noir said quietly, looking out over their city.

“Speak for yourself,” Ladybug muttered, shivering. “I don’t like that it’s getting colder. I’m cold all the time.”

He grinned over his shoulder to her and tilted his head. “You know, I could always warm you up, my lady.” He cooed out, leaning toward her.

She snorted and used her finger to push him back by the nose. “Nice try, kitty. I’ll manage just fine, thank you. Still. I’m not looking forward to winter.”

Over the past few years together, they had learned about each other’s… well, quirks. They had a few side effects that had developed from their transformations. For example, he purred. He wasn’t very fond of the rain, at least when he was in his suit. It made him feel on edge. He really liked taking naps in a nice patch of sun. All right, the last one may have been fairly normal for any person. Naps in the sun were just glorious and that was fact.

Ladybug, however, had the unfortunate side effect of getting extremely sluggish in the winter. The cold wrecked her. If she had other quirks, she hadn’t displayed them nor mentioned them to Chat, but that one alone was bad enough. She was too much of a professional to ever let it affect her when they were battling against an akuma but she tended to allow him to take lead on patrols and shortened them for the entire season. He didn’t mind. Anything to help his lady.

She sighed and leaned back, staring at the waning moon. “I wish I could just crawl into a cocoon for the rest of the year and come out when the flowers start blooming in spring.”

He laughed at that. “Pretty sure that isn’t a ladybug thing.” He pointed out, grinning at her as he turned his body to face her.

“I know that,” she grumbled, “still sounds like a lovely alternative to being awake through this insanity.”

“Oh bug, it hasn’t even hit winter yet. We haven’t seen snow or anything.”

“I know,” she whined and straightened, pouting over at him. “I feel like it gets worse every year. One of these years I’m just going to fall into a coma for the whole winter, I just know it.”

“Well, don’t do that. I’d miss you too much.” He pouted right back at her. “Tell your kwami it’s not allowed.”

Ladybug, in a rather unladylike fashion, snorted at that. “I’ll be sure to get right on that.” She rolled her eyes.

Popping up from her spot, she looked down at him and held out her hand with a smile.

“I think patrol is over tonight, kitty. Time to head home.” She hoisted him up once he grasped her hand in his and he held to it even after he was up and steady.

“Yours or mine?” He asked with a wicked grin and wiggled his eyebrows at her.

“Bad kitty.” She chided, pulling her hand back and grabbing her yo-yo from its spot on her hip. “Good night, Chat.” And with that, she was off.

And he was left behind, staring after her as a sigh tumbled from his lips. “Good night, my lady,” he said to the night before turning and heading back to his own house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I seriously considered Adrien feeling something when she called him 'such a great friend', because I'm salty like that, but thought it may be too soon for him to really dwell on it. 
> 
> Argh. But my brain cried over it. Really, it did.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fierce foursome get a day to hang out together, and they meet a friendly face while they're out!

The next week was blessedly normal. A couple of her classmates, her friends, had asked after her. But they were appeased after she explained to them the situation. She was all right, she told them. And she found that she was. There was still that slight ache sometimes when she looked at Adrien when he wasn’t paying attention. But it was bearable. And despite it she found herself enjoying his company even more than she had before.

The only abnormality was that Chloe hadn’t found her to mercilessly poke fun at her for what had happened. It had certainly been cause for gossip for a few days and Marinette had thoroughly expected the blond to use it as ammunition to get under her skin but Chloe had done no such thing. There were, of course, no pleasantries exchanged either, but she found her silence just as comforting.

Alya hadn’t been pushing her to talk about it, which she was thankful for. Neither did Nino, though he wasn’t exactly the type to do so anyway. He had simply offered her a hug and let her go about her business. Of course Nino cared, but he was all about staying out of other peoples’ business until being invited into it.

When the weekend finally arrived, the group of friends had planned to spend some time together. Adrien had a rare break in his schedule and so they decided to make a whole day of it on Saturday. Marinette had managed to already become comfortable enough that the idea actually excited her. Spending the day with three of her closest friends sounded wonderful.

The weather was cool enough that Marinette bundled up in a heavy sweater on top of her plain, long sleeved shirt and matching scarf and gloves. Her usual slippers were left behind for tall boots that reached her knees and her pink jeans were traded for black ones instead. They were heavier and were better at keeping in her body heat. Still, she shivered upon stepping out of the warmth of the bakery.

They had decided to meet up at the park next to the bakery so she was there in a flash and found that she was still the last of them to arrive. “There you are, girl!” Alya grinned and wrapped Marinette in a tight hug. “Assuming that’s you under all those layers.”

“Hey, lay off, I’m cold.” She sniped back.

Adrien chuckled. “Hah. Lay off. Layers. Nice.” Marinette gave him an appraising look before smirking.

“Wow. Sometimes I forget you’re kind of a dork.” She teased, reaching out and gently shoving his arm.

He blushed but grinned at her. “Yeah a dork that you seem to like hanging out with. Guess you’re a dork, too.”

“Guess so.” She said simply. “So what are we doing today?” They had never really decided on anything, Nino declaring that sometimes it was good to go with the flow.

“Let’s walk around a bit.” Nino suggested, smiling and hooking his arm with Alya’s and simply started leading the way out of the park. Adrien and Marinette shrugged at each other before they dutifully followed the pair.

Marinette was thankful it was sunny, at least. The cold would have been much worse if it was dark on top of it. She chanced a glance over at Adrien. He was staring ahead with a wide grin and listening as Alya chattered with Nino about the latest akuma attack and how upset she was that she had missed it. Stupid dentist appointment, she groused.

Marinette had been quite happy about her absence, truth be told. It was just so much easier for her to concentrate on the battle when she didn’t have to worry about one of her best friends getting caught in the cross fire. She had lectured Alya so many times her tongue should have fallen off but no matter how many extremely valid points she gave, the young reporter never seemed to take them to heart.

“Oh, hey, is that who I think it is?” Alya broke from her rant and pointed toward a little cafe on the corner ahead of them.

“Oh. Hey. Luka!” Adrien called out and waved with a grin at the tall boy. He was decked out in an apron and a name tag, he must have gotten a job at the cafe. “Long time.” When they approached, Luka grinned and reached out to grip Adrien’s hand in a firm shake before doing the same with Nino. Alya popped up for a hug and soon Marinette found his arms around her too. She blushed and carefully laced her arms around his midsection for a quick squeeze before hurriedly stepping back.

“Hey Adrien, Alya, Nino… hey Ma-ma-Marinette.” Her blush deepened and she glanced down to her feet in hopes she could summon a hole to swallow her up.

“Hi Luka,” Marinette greeted softly, picking at the edge of her sweatshirt.

“How have you been?” Adrien asked happily. It had been a while since their band, Kitty Section, had been able to play together. “Last I heard you were out of the country.”

“Yeah. I was for a while. Past six months, actually. Got back a few weeks ago. Tried living with dad in London, checked out the music scene. It was cool to see the bands out there but wasn’t really into the whole bumming off my dad thing.” Luka grinned easily and worked on wiping down the table he stood by to look busy. “So came back to bum off mom instead and save up some money so I can eventually move there on my own.”

“That’s so cool.” Adrien was impressed. Luka was a pretty laid back guy but he definitely knew what he wanted to do.

“Yeah. So I’m working here, giving some guitar lessons on the side. It’s gonna take a while but that’s fine. Plenty of time.” He smiled coolly and tucked the rag into a pocket in his apron. “What about you guys?”

“Senior year.” Nino said with a shrug.

“Ahh, joy of joys.”

“Pretty much,” Alya laughed. Marinette chuckled along, trying her best to get over the idea that Luka stood in front of her, all grown up and looking better than ever. London had apparently been good for him. His hair was longer than before and currently pulled back out of his face so he could work without it in the way. He was pale still, but his shoulders were broad and it looked like he had gained a little bit of muscle since she last saw him. Then again, the last time she saw him had been around a year before.

“What about you, Marinette?” His voice broke through the haze of thoughts and her head shot up, eyes widening.

“Huh, what was that?”

He laughed softly but it ended in a sweet smile that made her cheeks heat up all over again. “What have you been up to?”

“Uhm… other than school?” He nodded. “I guess I’ve been on a big designing kick lately.”

“Ooh, yeah. My girl has been lighting those pages on fire she’s been drawing so fast!” Alya crowed, proud of her bestie. “You’re going to need another new sketchbook soon, girl.” She patted Marinette on the back with a happy grin.

“Yeah? I’d love to see them some time. Trade you a song for a look?”

Marinette blinked wide eyes and slowly nodded. Was he… was he flirting with her?

“Cool. Give me your phone.” Luka said, holding out his hand. She fished into her pocket quickly and handed it over, then watched as he tapped in his info. “Text me. We’ll set up a time to hang.”

“O-okay. Sounds cool. Good. Sounds good. Or cool.” She giggled and tried to fight down her blush.

“Yeah. Cool is good.” Luka muttered and reached out and gently fingered a strand of her hair. “Like the new look by the way.”

“Thank you.” Marinette whispered, looking up at him through her lashes.

The spell was broken from the loud sound of someone clearing their throat and the whole group turned to see an older gentleman staring pointedly at Luka, arms crossed and tapping his foot impatiently. “Shit. Think that’s my cue to stop fraternizing. Gotta get back to work. I’ll see you guys later, yeah?”

“Yeah.” They chorused.

“Bye,” Marinette said as Alya slung an arm around her shoulders and escorted her away.

“Holy shit.” Alya muttered under her breath with a brilliant smile. “He was just totally asking you out.”

“I… I don’t know Alya…” Marinette whispered back. After all, there had been times when Adrien had invited her to go places only for her to hear, again, that it was just a friendly outing. She didn’t want to get her hopes up. And then, wasn’t it too soon for her to be thinking about such things? Yes, she and Adrien were never together. She didn’t have a breakup to go over. But a part of her felt like it was just weird to be thinking about even the possibility of dating another boy.

“He was hitting on you girl.” Alya giggled and hip checked her gently, sending Marinette stumbling right into Adrien’s side. He steadied her easily and she smiled at him, then faltered at his expression. He looked to be deep in thought, but quickly shook himself out of it.

“You okay, Mari?” He asked softly.

“Yeah. Thanks, Adrien…”

They continued their walk until they realized that they were hungry, and decided to settle in for lunch. Alya had attempted to coerce them into turning back and eating at the cafe Luka had been working at but Mari put her foot down. That would be just way too much to handle for her right now. So instead, they went into a small restaurant and settled into a booth together.

Alya dutifully took the seat next to Marinette and sat across from Nino, grinning at said boy as she gently kicked his foot with her own. He grinned and kicked back.

“Okay. If you guys are going to play footsies could you at least learn to aim?” Adrien asked, glancing between the pair. “Unless you’re trying to ask me to join your relationship or something.”

“Pssh. Nice try, Adrien but I don’t like sharing.” Alya grinned at him and leaned back against the seat. Marinette laughed weakly but her brain was still focused on trying to figure out exactly what Luka had meant by his invitation. She fingered her phone as she cradled it in her hands, not sure exactly what she wanted to say. Whether or not Luka had intentions beyond anything friendly, this was her first text to him. Saying something as simple as hi seemed lame. “Girl, just text him.”

When Marinette looked up she found the three friends staring at her curiously and felt her whole face light up in a blush. “I… I’m going to!” She declared quickly. “I just don’t really know what to say.”

“I’m sure anything will be fine.” Adrien said softly, trying to give her a reassuring smile.

“Yeah. He’s into you. You could probably smash your nose into the keys and he’d think it was a cute message.” Alya giggled and Marinette responded with a long groan. “Okay, maybe not quite so much. Just keep it simple.”

“Right. Simple. I can do simple…” Marinette uttered and quickly typed out a message.

_M: Hey. It’s Marinette._

That was simple. She set down her phone on the table and picked up the menu to look through her options.

On the fourth time Alya caught her glancing at her phone, Alya rolled her eyes and picked up the device. “Mari, stop. Focus on food now.”

“Yes mom,” Marinette huffed and returned her attention to the menu, not noticing the two boys across from them exchanging amused glances.

Well. Nino was amused.

Adrien was… he wasn’t exactly sure what he was. Amused definitely wasn’t the right word though. Maybe concerned? Concerned that his friend was concerned.

After they put their orders in and settled back to wait, Adrien found himself studying Marinette as she plucked her phone back out of Alya’s grasp and settled it onto her lap. His chest felt tight again. He tried to ignore the feeling but it grew a little bit every time he saw her glance down at her lap to check her phone. He only felt slightly better when Alya reached over and plucked the phone out of her lap again declaring she was making herself worry over nothing. Luka was working, he couldn’t text her back right now.

“Fine,” Marinette conceded with a grumble and settled back against the seat with a pout.

They chatted away about nothing in particular, mostly classes (which for the most part consisted of Nino complaining about how terrible biology was turning out to be) and other such normalities until their food came and promptly tucked in.

“So,” Alya started. “What do you guys want to do after this? I was thinking movie.”

Adrien glanced over to Marinette at that, remembering his first time to the movies with her two years previous.

“Is there even anything good out?” Marinette asked, pushing her food around mindlessly with her fork before spearing a piece of meat.

“Define good,” Alya said with a grin. Marinette shrugged.

“I don’t know. Worth my money.”

“There was a B horror movie that looked so terrible it will probably be hilarious. Does that count?”

Marinette took a second to think it over, pushing her food around her plate again. “Hmm… yeah, I could go for that. Are you guys okay with it?”

Adrien had never been a big horror movie fan. Horror anime? Sure. But seeing realistic horror had always made him a bit too jumpy for his liking. And of course the jump-scares themselves made it worse. The one time he tried watching one on his own in the comfort of his room (even with all the lights on), it had ended with Plagg cackling and calling him a scaredy-cat as he burrowed under his covers.

However that was a long time ago, and he had been through a lot more by this point in his life. So Adrien grinned. “Sure, why not.”

“Cool! Sounds like a plan.” Nino cheered and shoved the last huge bite of sandwich into his mouth much to Alya’s disgust. She kicked his foot again, less gently this time and he had the wherewithal to close his mouth to chew.

“Nasty.” Alya chided and kicked him again for good measure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it's been a while since I've posted. Life stuff has been getting in the way. I'm going to try and rework an outline for this so I can post more regularly again. Thanks for the patience guys!


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